Insurance Claim issue - advice required.

[Carlton Banks]

In brief - A van moved across lanes too early on a busy London multi line gyratory and took out the front corner of my car - the hirer / driver of van admitted liability - incident reported. Seemed pretty clear cut and I expected my car to be repaired in decent time by a nominated repairer of my choice and settled by the other party. The van was relatively undamaged bar a minor scuff on a plastic bumper - my front wing has massive damage and the front bumper has scuff damage and a crack - it is quite obvious that the damage was from a car hitting my car as opposed to anything else.



I elected to pursue the claim through the van drivers insurance (it was a rental van) and they initially seemed fine with this idea as the case looked clear cut. I decided not to involve my insurance company to avoid any costs being incurred and then being loaded into my premium next year - you know what they say ' you are apparently statistically more liable to be in an accident even if it was non fault' etc. Anyway, the third party contacted my insurance company and I explained the above - they were happy with the above.. The third party's insurance company asked for a quote to be sent through from my nominated repairer and this was done,

But this has taken a turn for the worst!

WIND FORWARD to today. It appears that the person who hired the van has decided to alter their story saying that it wasn't their fault. Bearing in mind the driver of the van was oblivious to the incident in the first place as they didn't know the size of their hire long wheel based van, this seems really unfair.

My car remains unfixed and I am now thinking whether I should just go through my own insurance now that the claim isn't running the way it should. I could keep fighting this through the third party but I could be arguing the toss.

I really hate the insurance industry as 50-50 claims seem to be easy to come by - my car has cosmetic damage but was mint before the incident - really hacked off.

Any other bright ideas?

[Monty Python]

"It is quite obvious that the damage was from a car hitting my car as opposed to anything else." - that's all very well but it doesn't explain the events leading up to the collision. Unless you have any witnesses it's going to be very difficult to prove it was their fault.

Edited by Monty Python on Wednesday 31st October 14:38

[mattball]

Keep nagging.

If you want to give up find how much for the fix. Going private might be better. Remember you have to pay your excess and suffer the increased premium next year.

[Carlton Banks]

Yep, that is a good point.

I have a witness - my best man! We were on our way to my bloomin wedding reception. Shocker.

Anyway, I have the third party details of the driver after she reluctantly gave them to me.

The bill is going to be substantial - circa £2k to be fixed properly.

This is why I am so fcked off about it.

[ZOLLAR]

Carlton Banks said:

Yep, that is a good point.

I have a witness - my best man! We were on our way to my bloomin wedding reception. Shocker.

Anyway, I have the third party details of the driver after she reluctantly gave them to me.

The bill is going to be substantial - circa £2k to be fixed properly.

This is why I am so fcked off about it.

Not a valid witness, speak to your insurer.
Should have done so in the first place now they have to try and sort out the mess.